Developmental Regional Integration: The Vehicle for Africa’s Industrialisation and Development

This article examines the state of structural transformation, industrialisation, and development in Africa against the backdrop of decades of pursuing sustainable growth and development on the continent. To meet this objective, the author analysed the share of the manufacturing sector to the total economic output, the technological density of the manufactured exports, and other relevant statistics as measures of this process. The secondary sources deployed to meet the article's objective include relevant journal articles and books. This paper maintains that while regional integration was correctly identified as a vehicle for the continent's economic emancipation, there has been a shortfall in translating that overwhelming consensus into action. The failure to implement this critical agenda explains the continent's current poor state of industrialisation and development. This paper contends that this objective will not be realised until the African states are restructured to be deliberate and intentional about the continent's industrialisation by adopting a developmental approach to regional integration.